Thinking Skills - Examination Advice

With the recent release of the new marking scale for the Selective High School Placement Test, it is
easy to see that Thinking Skills is sure to be of paramount importance, now being worth 35 of the total
120 marks on offer.

Bearing this is mind, here are some of what I consider to be the key facets of thinking skills that
students need to be aware of within the context of the examination process.

1. Critical Reading and Analysis of Questions

Many of the questions to be found in Thinking Skills type examinations are not especially difficult in
terms of working out the answer. What can be difficult (especially for primary school students) is
working out what the question is actually asking. Take the following question, for example:

The following table shows the distribution of cats and dogs amongst the 80 households of Pluvial
Avenue:

How many of Pluvial Avenue’s cats share their home with at least one dog?

A. 84 B. 70 C. 78 D. 42 E. 56

The vast majority of students get this question wrong; not because the maths is difficult, but because
they don't read the question properly and don't identify what the question is actually asking.

The key elements are: how many cats

at least one dog

What most students do is eliminate both the '0 cats' column and the '0 dogs' row, and then add
everything else:

The fact that this answer can be found among the multiple choice options will generally make the
student feel as if this is correct. However, a vital step has been missed, relating to 'how many cats'.
'14' is correct because the column entitled '1 cat' does in fact represent households inhabited by only
1 cat AND at least 1 dog. '20' is incorrect in the next column, as '20' actually represents the number of
households where 2 cats live WITH at least 1 dog, which means there are actually 40 cats living with
at least 1 dog in this case. It then becomes clear that the total for the '3 cats' column needs to be
multiplied by 3. So the actual answer should be: (14 x 1) + (20 x 2) + (8 x 3) = 14 + 40 + 24 = C. 78

1
2. Using Mental Maths and Number Sense

Time is probably the biggest constraint in a Thinking Skills examination. With this in mind, it's
important that students learn to develop number sense and mental calculation abilities in order to
solve problems in the most expedient fashion. Look at the following example:

150 people who completed a Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire rated the overall service of Gopher
Travel Agency as follows:

Phileas entered this information into his computer in order to construct a pie chart. Unfortunately he
failed to enter one of the categories, and as a result this pie chart appeared on his screen:

Which category had Phileas not entered?

A. Excellent B. Very good C. Good D. Satisfactory

The first step in solving this problem should be to identify the section of the pie chart that represents
an easily distinguishable fraction. In this case, the top right quadrant clearly represents 1/4. So,
understanding that one of the values has been left out means that 1 of the 4 remaining values needs to
be a quarter of all 4 remaining values.

As the total is 150, you can eliminate 48 (4 x 48 = 192) and 42 (4 x 42 = 168), and 12 (12 x 4 = 48)
will be way too small. Being able to identify that 27 x 4 =108, and that 27 + 48 + 21 + 12 = 108 are
key in ascertaining that 42 is the missing value, so the answer is C. Good

I spend a good deal of time in my classes espousing the importance of number sense and seeking to
facilitate the development of the students' ability to quickly and intuitively deal with numbers in a
variety of contexts.

Here is another example question that uses both critical reading and number sense:

An unusual dartboard is used in a playground game.

2
In order to win the big prize, contestants must score exactly 50 with three darts, all of which
must be in different sectors.

Which number must they hit with one of the three darts in order to score 50?

A. 8 B. 11 C. 18 D. 21

The key words to identify here are: exactly 50 three darts

different sectors which number must they hit

The possible combinations are: 8, 18, 24 (8 + 18 + 24 = 50)

11, 18, 21 (11 + 18 + 21 = 50)

The only number that appears in both combinations is 18. Therefore C. 18 is the answer, as 18 must
be hit with one of the darts in order to score 50. If the student does not identify this, they may think
that any of the multiple choice answers is a correct answer.

3. Rote Learning as a Foundation of Thinking Skills

Rote learning is often thought to be antithetical to higher order thinking skills. However, rote learning
can be a powerful weapon in your critical thinking arsenal. Look at this example:

The 6-digit passcode for my online banking account is easy for me to remember; it is the only 6-digit
number that can be written in the form xxx xxx as two square numbers and in the form xx xx xx as
three different prime numbers.

Note: The 3-digit square numbers are:

100 196 324 484 676 900 121 225 361 529 729 961 144 256 400 576 784 169 289 441 625 841

When I logged in today I was asked to enter the 3rd and 5th digits of my passcode.

What is the 3rd digit of my passcode?

A. 1 B. 4 C. 5 D. 6 E. 9

Memorisation of prime numbers will be a great asset here. Quickly scanning the 2 digit numbers from
left to right will yield the following prime numbers within the first 2 digits of each 3 digit sequence:

19, 67 - so we know that the first 3 digit number is either 196 or 676. Can we combine another 3 digit
number from the sequence with each to create 3 prime numbers?

196 - 729 = 19, 67, 29

676 - 729 = 67, 67, 29 (this answer isn't valid, because another constraint is that the 3 prime numbers
need to be different)

Therefore the correct 6 digit passcode is 196729, the third digit is 6, so the answer is D. 6

This question could be extremely difficult for students that are unable to quickly identify that a
number such as 57 (19 x 3) isn't prime.

3
4. Understanding Data and Statistics

Deciphering statistics is an integral component of critical thinking. Often, manipulative use of data can
be tantamount to 'lying'. Take this question, for example:

It is logical to conclude that it is more dangerous to ride in an automobile than to ride on a motorcycle.
After all, the National Safety Council estimates that one person in 19,000 will die each year in an
automobile, while only one out of every 73,000 will be killed as a motorcyclist.

Which of the following studies would be most useful in assessing the validity of the argument above?

A. Comparing the National Safety Council’s statistics with those of other nations where traffic laws
and conditions are similar
B. Expressing the difference between the probability of death among automobile passengers and that
of motorcyclists as a percentage of the total number of deaths
C. Separating the odds of death due to operating vehicles illegally from those in which the operator is
not at fault
D. Comparing death rates per thousand members of each group rather than comparing total numbers
of deaths

The key to understanding this question is in ascertaining what is actually being stated. On the surface,
it would be easy to conclude that riding in an automobile is more dangerous, as the presented
statistics seem to support this. However, all the information really suggests is that more people died in
automobiles than on motorcycles. It is useful to teach students to be able to make analogies in
instances such as this. More people almost certainly die in car accidents than get eaten by sharks each
year. Would you conclude that it is safer to swim in shark infested waters than to drive a car? This
type of thinking would lead the student to answer D - comparing death rates. We need to know how
many people are riding in automobiles and motorcycles in order to truly make sense of this presented
information.

So now, you should be able to easily identify the deceptive reasoning being used in the argument
below:

Despite common fears, skydiving is much safer than other activities, such as driving a car. In one
particular month, in Los Angeles, 176 people died in car accidents while 3 died in skydiving accidents.

5. Paraphrasing Arguments and Ideas

Students should get into the habit of considering seemingly complex arguments in their own words.
For example, consider the question below:

Columnist: George Orwell’s book 1984 has exercised much influence on a great number of this
newspaper’s readers. One thousand readers were surveyed and asked to name the one book that had
the most influence on their lives. The book chosen most often was the Bible; 1984 was second.

The answer to which one of the following questions would most help in evaluating the columnist’s
argument?

A. How many books had each person surveyed read?

B. How many people chose books other than 1984?
C. How many people read the columnist’s newspaper?
D. How many books by George Orwell other than 1984 were chosen?

4
The first step to answering this question is to establish what the argument is. It could be paraphrased
as something like:

"Orwell's 1984 has been extremely influential on this newspaper's readers."

The question even asks the student to make use of a higher order thinking skill: to evaluate. Which of
the question choices would most help to evaluate this argument?

Choice A: The survey in the argument asks readers to name the one book with the most influence in
their lives; the number of books read does not affect this answer. Whether the answer is 1 or 100 000,
the evaluation of the argument will not be affected.

Choice B: This is the correct answer. We know 1000 readers were surveyed. If it turns out that 999
read the Bible, and only 1 read 1984, this means 1984 was second, but 1 out of a 1000 would hardly
seem influential. Conversely, the conclusion would be strengthened if we were to find out that 501
readers chose the Bible and 499 chose 1984. Either instance has great impact upon any evaluation of
the stated argument.

Choice C: Is not at all relevant to the argument.

Choice D: Again, irrelevant, as the argument is only concerned with a specific Orwell text.

6. Ignoring Superfluous Information

Many thinking skills questions attempt to overload the student with unnecessary information. To wit:

Sara lives in a large city on the coast. Her younger cousin Marlee lives in a small town with fewer than
1,000 residents. Marlee has visited Sara several times during the past five years. In the same period of
time, Sara has visited Marlee only once.

Based only on the information above, which of the following statements must be true?

A. Marlee likes Sara better than Sara likes Marlee.

B. Sara thinks small towns are boring.
C. Sara is older than Marlee.
D. Marlee wants to move to the East Coast.

'Must be true' is the key part of the question here. All of the answer options dealing with 'better',
'boring', and 'wants' are all subjective and can only be inferred from the passage. The part of the
passage which reveals the answer is 'Her younger cousin Marlee...', as we are presented with an
objective fact; Sara is older than Marlee. The problem for many students in answering this type of
question is that they get distracted by the extra information presented, which is completely irrelevant
to the question being asked.

Best of Luck to all Students!

Hopefully some of these strategies will prove to be beneficial to you during the Thinking Skills
component of the exam. I also look forward to hopefully assisting many future students in their
pursuit of sound logical reasoning and critical thinking skills.